Andrew Ruiz reports: The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is warning customers that hackers may have obtained the names of more than 16,000 people who have Florida concealed weapon permits. The data breach that appears to have originated from overseas affects people who entered information through the department’s online payment system. Read more…
Category: Government Sector
Tax worker fired after biggest privacy breach at Revenue Canada
Dean Beeby reports: The Canada Revenue Agency has fired an employee for the biggest single privacy breach ever detected involving confidential taxpayer accounts. The employee improperly accessed the accounts of 38 taxpayers in detail, and briefly accessed another 1,264 accounts using a search function to find surnames and postal codes. Read more on CBC.
PBSO deputy backs out of ID theft guilty plea; to take chance on trial
Jane Musgrave reports: A former Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy on Friday was allowed to recant his guilty pleas and will get a chance to persuade a jury that he didn’t use his access to law enforcement databases to propel a $250,000 identity theft scam. U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks agreed to let former deputy…
EPIC v. FBI: Agency Cyber Hack Notification Procedures Fall Short
Via EPIC.org: In Freedom of Information Act lawsuit EPIC v. FBI, EPIC has obtained the FBI notification procedures that would have applied to the Russian cyberattacks during the 2016 Presidential election. The documents obtained by EPIC establish that the FBI Cyber Division is to “notify and disseminate meaningful information to victims and the CND [Computer Network…
Mystery cyber attackers targeted MPs earlier in the year, security officials disclose
Ben Farmer reports: Members of Parliament have been deliberately targeted by hackers trying to break into online accounts, security officals have said. The cyber attack earlier this year is understood to have focused on unnamed MPs and political party staff, raising suspicions it was politically motivated. Details of the attack were disclosed after intelligence services warned they…
Cn: China cracks down on selling personal info
Global Times reports: The Supreme People’s Procuratorate of China announced several typical cases of infringement of personal information. One of the cases involved several national staff members who take advantage of their positions to illegally obtain – and sell – citizens’ personal information. Between 2014 and 2016, an employee surnamed Han from the Shanghai Municipal…